pedaldancer73

Hi,

i rented a car at IAH with AVIS for one day on Saturday 26th.


Most important I saved the car from drowning in Houston, we then were stuck in the City until Wednesday where it was finally save to drive out and I finally brought it to Dallas.

I was billed for 4 days, which I dont find correct as it was simply not possible to bring the car back.

Whats your opinion?

AutoSlash

We'd recommend reaching out to Avis customer support at (800) 352-7900 or even better, on Twitter to @avis since they seem to be responding there. They have provided some guidance on Twitter as per these tweets:

IAHtraveler

Unfortunately, you had the car out and prevented them from renting to someone else so I doubt they'll do anything for you. Per their statement, just ensure your one-way/drop/extension wasn't added or you should be able to get that refunded.

And if they had it and it flooded, they have insurance for that so you didn't really save them from anything. Do you have trip insurance to cover the extra days that were required due to weather?

AutoSlash

Respectfully, our read of their statement is that they will credit the customer for the extra days since it was clearly not safe to drive in the days following his rental return time. Hopefully, the OP will reply back here with the resolution after contacting Avis.

IAHtraveler

Yeah, definitely not 100% clear. I take it that the extension/late fee waiver is the $10 or whatever they charge to keep the car longer than listed on your outbound contract.

jackal

I could see it both ways, but at least contacting them to ask for a refund can't hurt. But the rental companies' policies are generally "once you take it out of the lot, you are 100% responsible, even if it is an act of God." Doesn't matter that the hail that fell might have damaged it on their lot, too--it damaged it in your hotel parking lot, so it's your responsibility, in their view, anyway.

As for the comment about them having flood insurance--every rental agency I've ever worked or dealt with has been self-insured, so they would have taken the loss. But when dealing with a big corporate company, arguments like "I saved it from getting flooded on your lot" don't carry much weight, whereas they might if you get the chance to talk to a smaller agency owner/operator.

I'm interested to follow up on this and see what the OP's experience ends up being.

pedaldancer73

thanks for helpful comments already! I contacted AVIS on twitter now.

Just to mention: I was at not charged one ways fees already.

When talking to the agent in Dallas, he mentioned that they had plenty of cars coming in that day (more or less the first day roads were open) that were supposed to be brought back to IAH...


on a sidenote: I rather doubt they would have rented out a Mustang in Houston these days.... (if an agency would even have been open that is...)

pedaldancer73

So here's the promised update:

Response was a bit slow at first, but when finally the right person took care of the matter the case was solved to my full satisfaction. All fees related to the late return were waived:


xx, thank you for providing us with your rental info., we have created case # xxto document your complaint. We were able to remove the rental days from 8/27 - 8/30, since our locations were closed due to the hurricane. We have applied a credit for $289.55 to your MasterCard. Please allow three to five business days for the credit to be reflected in your credit card account. An updated e-receipt has been sent to your email. Avis is committed to excellence in providing our customers the best all-around service available in the car rental industry. Our customers’ satisfaction with our service is most important. Any difficulties or problems encountered are a concern to us, and we apologize most sincerely for the inconvenience you were caused. Although we realize we cannot make up for a disappointing experience such as this, we do appreciate your feedback. Only by being made aware of a problem can we fix it and offer the high quality of service that Avis customers expect and deserve. While we understand your position constructive criticism is appreciated. Should you need additional assistance or have further questions, please let us know. ~Susan


great service, thank you AVIS!